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Take-Two dealt setback with Hot Coffee lawsuit

Take-Two is still dealing from the fallout from the ill-conceived Hot Coffee …

A federal judge has handed Take-Two Interactive a setback in its fight against one of the lawsuits filed after the Hot Coffee incident. Ruling in a case filed by 86-year-old grandmother Florence Cohen, Judge Shirley Wohl Kram denied Take-Two's attempt to bar Cohen's lawsuit from seeking class-action status.

Cohen sued Take-Two after buying Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for her 14-year-old grandson. Apparently untroubled by the violent nature of the videogame, she was disturbed by the sexual content unlocked via the Hot Coffee mod and sued Take-Two, accusing the developer of violating consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the game's content.

Cohen seeks class-action status for her lawsuit, which would allow all of those who bought GTA: SA prior to the disclosure of the Hot Coffee mod and subsequent recall of the game to join in the litigation. There have been four other cases filed in federal court making the same allegations, and Take-Two is fighting to keep them from being consolidated into a single, class-action lawsuit.

In her opinion, Judge Wohl Gram wrote that "If class certification is granted, the Court will have the benefit of a well-defined class and a more fully developed treatment of potential choice of law questions. As such, the Court will be in a better position to analyze the various laws that are actually at issue in the instant case and to determine whether the Class has standing to assert claims arising thereunder."

Judge Wohl Gram will make the determination on whether Cohen's lawsuit will be class-action status at some point in the future.

Beyond Cohen's lawsuit, Take-Two still has a couple of other pieces of unfinished business relating to the Hot Coffee mod. A Manhattan grand jury is investigating the Hot Coffee patch and has issued subpoenas to Take-Two with an eye towards possible criminal charges. Out in California, the company is battling a civil suit filed the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office that accuses Take-Two of unfair business practices by not disclosing GTA: SA's sexual content and avoiding an AO: Adults Only rating.

Eric Bangeman
Eric has been using personal computers since 1980 and writing about them at Ars Technica since 2003, where he currently serves as Managing Editor. Twitter@ericbangeman